Kay's Bookshelf

Well, I am not certain what expectations I had prior to opening this book (especially given the fact that I had heard of Mr. Barker only vaguely before, plus my copy of the book had a very uninteresting cover), but I was very pleasantly surprised.

The Book of Blood

The house at 65, Tollington Place has the bad luck to be situated in the same place as a highway of the dead. A thing that, naturally enough, makes it haunted. Doctor Mary Florescu has seen her chance to prove, once and for all, that the supernatural exists, so she moved to the house, together with her assistant and a medium. This latter, Simon, was actually a fraud, taking pride in the way he managed to fool everybody. Not knowing that, in the process, he has angered the dead. The dead that, one day, did came and did leave tangible traces: their stories, written all over Simon’s body. This is how The Book of Blood came into existence — written in blood, on human skin — and some of the stories in it are those that follow.

I don’t know how to feel about this. Sure, I love the idea behind it. The imagery is interesting too. However, I did not particularly like the characters — Simon wasn’t actually supposed to be likable, which is ok, but Mary… I am left with a question mark regarding the way I should relate to her. One of the disadvantages of short stories I guess, they have too little space to determinedly define their characters.

I wonder why the doctor had a Romanian name :)

The Midnight Meat Train

Leon Kaufman is an ordinary guy, living in New York, intrigued, like the rest of the people in the city, by the latest mysterious murders discovered. People have been stripped, cut, and bled to death in subway wagons, by an unknown guy dubbed the Subway Butcher. Theories abound, and everyone has an opinion, but the unfortunate Kaufman is the only one to find out the truth, one evening when he stayed up too late at work.

I cannot add the whole quote, because it’s about one page long, but I really liked the way this story has begun: with Leon examining his feelings towards New York: it used to be his promised land, and he had been in love with it from afar for about twenty years. When his dream of coming to live here had come true, Leon was delighted, openly declaring his feelings to the world. And yet, less than four months later, he is thoroughly disillusioned:

“New York was just a city.
He had seen her wake in the morning like a slut, and pick murdered men from between her teeth, and suicides from the tangles of her hair. He had seen her late at night, her dirty back streets shamelessly courting depravity. He had watched her in the hot afternoon, sluggish and ugly, indifferent to the atrocities that were being committed every hour in her throttled passages.
It was no Palace of Delights.
It bred death, not pleasure.
Everyone he met had brushed with violence; it was a fact of life. It was almost chic to have known someone who had died a violent death. It was proof of living in that city.”

It was a story rather filled with gore — blood, blood, and more blood — and some curious creatures too. Did I like it? Not necessarily. I did read it breathlessly though, because I was quite eager to find out how it ended (and also, to find out who died, because I figured that someone must die in order for this story to end up written on Simon’s skin). Did I enjoy the ending? I have no idea. I figure it’s a good one though. show spoiler

The Yattering and Jack

The Yattering has a mission: to get the soul of Jack J. Polo for his master, Beelzebub. Unfortunately for him, there are a lot of limitations to what a fury can do to his assigned person, such as never leaving his house, or never touching him, and, although the Yattering is doing everything in its power, Jack remained completely oblivious to its manoeuvres. Stuck in the same house for months, with no company most of the time, the poor Yattering is nearing its breaking point. At least, it consoles itself, Christmas will soon be there and Jack’s daughters will come visit, giving the harpy the leverage it needs to fulfill its mission.

This story was, to me, more amusing than horror (which is why I have rather liked it, hehe). The frustration of the poor fury, plus the extreme obliviousness of Jack to all its efforts, were enough to put a smile on my face. An example of the way Jack treated life:

“Events seemed to make no dent in his perfect indifference. His life’s disasters seemed not to scar his mind at all. When, eventually, he was confronted with the truth about his wife’s infidelity (he found them screwing in the bath) he couldn’t bring himself to be hurt or humiliated. ‘These things happen,’ he said to himself, backing out of the bathroom to let them finish what they’d started.”

Definitely one of my favorites so far :)
show spoiler

Pig Blood Blues

The story takes place in a youth correctional facility, where a former policeman, Neil Redman, has just started working. Filled with good intentions, he stumbles straight into the heart of a mystery involving a pig, a current inmate, and a former one, who still roams the facilities as a ghost, or perhaps something else.

As every other story so far, this one was captivating: once I begun it I couldn’t put it down — Mr. Barker really has a talent when it comes to creating stories like that. However, this is the first story when I didn’t quite “get” what happened after a certain point, and so my enjoyment of it was a bit less than the rest.

Hats off to the title, which I have found quite inspired. This is a story having to do with pigs (one in particular), but it is also an allusion to the fact that Redman was called a pig too, due to his past in the police force. Only one of these two “pigs” will have its blood shed in the story though, so it is that one the title points out to — but still, I liked the ambiguity of it all.

show spoiler

Sex, Death, and Starshine

Terry Galloway is the new director of the Elysium theatre, and his mission is to stage a production of The Twelfth night, starring a famous actress of the moment, Diane Duvall, as Viola. Only the famous actress cannot act to save her life, so the play is in shambles, two days before opening. The salvation comes in the shape of a former devotee of the theatre, a certain Mr. Lichfield, who, knowing that this is the last performance the Elysium is ever going to see, has kindly persuaded his wife Constantia to play Viola instead of Diane.

By now the “starshine” part of the title should be obvious, the “sex” should be covered by saying that the relationship between Galloway and Diane wasn’t exactly platonic, but where does “death” come into it? Very simple: some of the characters are already dead when the story opens, some of the characters will be so by the time the curtains fall. Sort of creepy, but also sort of fascinating, I would say.

The idea at the end, about art imitating life was quite interestingly put. show spoiler

Also, there is a minor character somewhere in there called Wellbeloved, how cool is that :)

In the Hills, the Cities

Mick and Judd are in their honeymoon, touring Europe. While in Yugoslavia they get lost and reach two cities who have a very strange tradition: each ten years all the inhabitants of each city harness themselves to one another and build a giant out of their bodies, and the two giants fight each other to see which is better. This year however something goes terribly wrong, as one of the giants falls down and dies, while the other goes out of its mind and run for the hills.

This was by far the most shocking story of all. The imagery it conjures, the sheer number of human lives lost is… I don’t have a word for it. A horror story if there ever was one. I am terribly impressed both by the imagination of the author, to think up something like that, and at the way he chose to envision the two “flesh-knitted giants“: scary, disturbing, frightening, and also a sight that might be interesting to see.

A quote is most definitely requested at this point (although, not being complete, it definitely does not do justice to the concept):

It was a masterpiece of human engineering: a man made entirely of men. Or rather, a sexless giant, made of men and women and children. All the citizens of Popolac writhed and strained [...], their muscles stretched to breaking point, their bones close to snapping.
They could see how the architects of Popolac had subtly altered the proportions of the human body; how the thing had been made squatter to lower its centre of gravity; how its legs had been made elephantine to bear the weight of the torso; how the head was sunk low on to the wide shoulders, so that the problems of a weak neck had been minimized.
Despite these malformations, it was horribly life-like. The bodies that were bound together to make its surface were naked but for their harnesses, so that its surface glistened in the starlight, like one vast human torso. Even the muscles were well copied, though simplified. They could see the way the roped bodies pushed and pulled against each other in solid cords of flesh and bone. They could see the intertwined people that made up the body: the backs like turtles packed together to offer the sweep of the pectorals; the lashed and knotted acrobats at the joints of the arms and the legs alike, rolling and unwinding to articulate the city.

And I just have to mention how great I think the title is, how much I like the way the imagery those few words evoke before reading the story contrasts the one in the reader’s mind right after finishing it :)

show spoiler

Thoughts on the title: Well, there is a full story describing the idea behind the title, and I have to say I am quite a bit impressed by that :)

What I liked most: “The Yattering and Jack” was my favorite story, because it was the lightest of them all. At the opposite end of the spectrum was “In the Hills, the Cities”, also a favorite, because of the way its strangeness affected me.

Were I to choose a certain element to like then I would say the writing, a thousand times over. Not only the pace is always alert, making the reader want to discover what happens next, then next, then next, but also some sentences are very beautifully phrased (unfortunately I didn’t take notes so I cannot give an example, but this is the feeling I got while reading).

What I liked least: Not that important but I’m a bit sad that I didn’t get the ending of the sow story. Or perhaps sad isn’t the word, curious is. I wonder what detail did I miss.

Recommend it to? Anyone who enjoys light horror stories. Expect some gore, of course, but there’s nothing in this book to give you nightmares (or so I think, wait ’til I fall asleep tonight).

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Understandably enough I was fond of the way Frederik related to his secret: he had a small cardboard city hidden in the attic, with two residents made out of threadless wooden spools, with their heads being acorns. Frederik thinks they may feel lonely, and goes on to search for a way to get the pair a boat to go sailing, “to hunt for more family”. I found that to be a cute idea, and also the very reason why the path of Frederik and the little girl with the matches will intersect, albeit for a very short while.

This is another one of those stories where everyone is good and the atmosphere is relaxed. The queen was my favorite from this point of view, as she was quite a clumsy creature, always stepping on the hems of her dresses; a detail that could have made her ridiculous to the reader, but as she also treated everyone quite nicely, I ended up being amused by her in a good way.

A part of the product description of the book on Amazon.com (something I didn’t think about myself but is obvious once it’s been pointed out):

When it was first translated from Danish and published in England in the mid-nineteenth century, audiences likely interpreted the Little Match Girl′s dying visions of lights and a grandmother in heaven as metaphors of religious salvation. Maguire′s new piece, entitled “Matchless,” reilluminates Andersen′s classic, using his storytelling magic to rekindle Andersen′s original intentions, and to suggest transcendence, the permanence of spirit, and the continuity that links the living and the dead.

Another thing I have loved from the very first is the title. Which I find beautiful :)
I have no idea whether I am right or not, but I took it to be a play on words, as matchless means both with no matches (just like the little girl was after all her matches have burned) and without a match, alone, as two of the characters in the book happen to be. Also, at one point the girl’s mother’s eyes were mentioned to be matchless (as in unique), and I enjoyed having yet another meaning to play with. Isn’t it great that one single word title can be interpreted in so many ways? :)

Thoughts on the ending: It’s quite cute, made even more so by the pictures. How else :)

What I liked most: The fact that the author has managed to take such a gloomy story and turn it into a happy one without actually changing anything of importance…

What I liked least: …however, I was nevertheless a bit disappointed by the fact that the original story wasn’t changed; for some reason I was expecting otherwise. Didn’t bother me that much though as the whole was happy enough overall.

Recommend it to? Everyone. It a very short read (272 lines, according to one reviewer), and the pics (drawn by the author himself) are really nice :)

Written by the same author:
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
Wicked

The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

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Paid Piper

Cleci is fourteen, the daughter of a washerwoman, living in the village of Lime Tree. A wealthy village overall, and they all believe this is due to the god they worship, Raur, the rat god. As a festival in Raur’s honor is about to begin, a strange person, a piper with ancient-looking eyes but a young face and a younger smile, came along playing his pipe. Listening to his music everyone agreed he should be the one to lead the ceremony — and nothing was ever the same since.

According to the wiki, this is a retelling of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Unfortunately, this is one of the tales I have never heard of before, so I have to idea how it matches to the original. All I can say is that I was “wow”-ed. This is my first Tanith Lee book and, as such, I loved discovering her writing style: seemingly simple and yet filled with beautiful similes and metaphors. Were I to quote the parts I liked I would probably quote half the story.

But most of all I fell in love with the very idea. The people, so petty and so blind to anything greater than their own ambitions. Too afraid to see the fact that there’s something greater out there, instead clinging to their traditions and their marble god. The piper, trying to make them see how things should really be, how beautiful life can be if one lets oneself enjoy it. A god himself, reminding me of Gaiman’s American Gods (“I was born on the day the first men thought of me. I shall die on the last day, when the last man forgets.“). A god of love, trying to get people to believe in him, for their own sake (thus to obtain a life free of petty ambition, a life full of enjoying beauty) as well as his (so he can live on). A god of love, yet slowly getting tainted by his prolonged contact with mankind.

I should probably stop now since I seem to have written quite a lot for a single story, and there’s eight more to come. Just one more mention: having read about the actual Pied Piper legend, I find quite interesting the way the author has chosen to adapt it. show spoiler

Red as Blood

A new take on the story of Snow White: Bianca is only thirteen when her step mother, the Witch Queen, arranges to have her killed. That’s because Bianca is in truth a vampire and her people aren’t safe with her around. Forced to leave home, she finds shelter in a cave, together with seven dwarf trees she brought to life. Until one day when an old crone comes and gifts her with an apple that secretly contained a piece of Eucharist — so Bianca, the vampire, choked with it and fainted.

This version, where Snow White’s (Bianca is the female form of white in Italian) mother is actually the good character, wanting to rid her people of the pest that Snow White, a vampire, is, was nothing new to me, as I have met it before in a short story by Neil Gaiman (Snow, Glass, Apples). I find it quite fascinating actually how two people thought of the same thing, to make Snow White a vampire (I’m guessing it’s because of her red lips), as I am very certain that they each wrote their version independently. The two versions differ though when it comes to the ending (and both differ from that of the fairytale) and, while Mr. Gaiman is by far the most realistic one, I think I like Mrs. Lee’s better: show spoiler

Thorns

“There is a thing there I would rather were left alone,” said a strange lady, dressed in black, to the travelling prince. She promised him gold, and glory, so as he will not pass by her, but his curiosity was stronger so he moved on, searching for the thing. He arrived in a strange village, where people has fur clothes and tools made out of stone. No sharp thing was in sight and, when asked why, the people sent him to the Oldest Man. The prince went on, to look for him, and found him at the base of a hill where thorns grew. Not ordinary thorns, but “A vast, rearing stronghold of thorns, taller than tall trees, black as night, thick stems interwoven and sharp with blades. A tangle of daggers dripping the diamond rain.“.

The original story is, of course, The Sleeping Beauty. Predictable enough, with a different ending. Unfortunately for me, an ending that I didn’t very much get. I did feel though its sadness and the loss those people suffered, a hundred years having fled by without their knowledge. I wonder at the lack of hope the ending seemed to have, and I keep shaking it off thinking it’s probably just me. I would definitely like to know what the author actually planned the ending to mean, as all my theories seem lacking :(

When The Clock Strikes

The Duke ruling the city has obtain his position treacherously, by killing everyone who stood between him and his purpose. Only one person has remained alive in the whole rival family, a woman. A bitter woman that has sworn revenge. To obtain it she has made a pact with the devil, and has taught witchery to her daughter too. The woman died, and her husband remarried a widow with two daughters of her own. And yet her daughter never gave up her plans for revenge, spending all her time covered in ashes, in order to be ignored, in order to be considered harmless.

Obviously a retelling of Cinderella. Like in Snow White’s case the tables are turned, and nothing is like in the original story. This Cinderella (who actually calls herself Ashella) spends her days in ashes because she has chosen so. There is no fairy godmother, there’s only the powers of evil. The step mother is the very epitome of generosity and the sisters are nice people too. Not to mention that what happens when the clock strikes twelve is also different than what originally happened. A truly twisted fairytale. And, as I am getting used by now (after all this is the fourth story already), it is perhaps worth mentioning that the implications of the ending are a bit more than the reader would expect. :)

The Golden Rope

The story opens with a witch paying a man well in exchange for his then not-yet-born daughter. The girl, named Jaspre, was then raised in solitude, not getting to see any other human being but the witch. When Jaspre is thirteen, she is introduced to a handsome statue, and told that it represents a god, an angel, a prince of darkness, and serving him was the very reason why she was brought into the world. So Jaspre serves him for a while, as best she can. She even falls in love with him, so deeply that when asked if she would give away her blood for him she welcomes the idea.

Inspired from Rapunzel. I loved the fact that, like in Paid Piper, a lot of literal things in the original fairytale were turned to their allegorical versions: the tower doesn’t actually exist, nor is Jaspre’s hair as long as to touch the ground. Not even the prince is an actual prince. The ending is lovely though, although predictable. Oh, and I had fun noticing the name the author has chosen for this particular heroine: Jaspre, because the witch gave Jaspre’s mother jaspre while pregnant, to strengthen her; just as Rapunzel in the original story was named Rapunzel because the witch gave the mother, while pregnant, a rapunzel plant.

The Princess And Her Future

The princess in the title is Jarasmi, a young girl who one day, at the market, was given a gift by a strange man with yellow eyes. He gave her a golden glass ball and told her that, when broken, the ball will show her future. Curious, like every other girl her age, about what the future holds her, Jarasmi hid in a corner of the garden, near a hidden temple, although her nurse had warned her not to ever go there.
Once she was certain she was all alone, she threw the ball to the ground. A small gesture, but with important consequences for Jarami, as because of it she got to meet the man she will soon marry.

Wikipedia says that this is a retelling of The Frog Princess, but I fail to see any connection between the two. Perhaps this is because this story is quite short and very few things happen throughout it, perhaps the wiki got it wrong, or perhaps I wasn’t paying enough attention. At least both versions have a ruler of land wanting to find a suitable spouse for his child. This is the only common ground I could find.

Wolfland

Lisel had to visit her grandmother, so, although she didn’t look forward to it, she donned her new scarlet cloak, climbed her sled, and away she went. Reaching her grandmother’s castle has proven to be a fearsome adventure for her, as Lisel and her escort had to go through a forest inhabited by wolves, but all is well when it ends well, so Lisel was happy to found herself in the old lady’s salon, surrounded by all the riches that she knew one day will belong to her. And yet, at night, a wolf came again, frightening Lisel so much that she wanted to leave for her home at once. But, of course, in the morning everything seemed alright again… or not?

An Little Red Riding Hood adaptation if there ever was one. Although somewhat predictable, I very much loved the author’s idea (especially when considered side by side with the original tale). Once again the literal elements gave way to metaphors, such as, the most obvious case, the part where the wolf eats first the grandmother and then Little Red Riding Hood herself. This moment appears in the short story too, although in quite a different way, and I liked that. We even get to know a few tidbits of granny’s youth (although they are bound to be different from what may have been in the youth of the granny in the fairytale, since that was was a poor woman and the one in the story is noble and rich), and I also liked that, because it added depth. What’s the deal with Beautiful though?

Black As Ink

Viktor is twenty and very bored, as his mother insists on him spending his summer at the family estate. One night he sees a beautiful girl swimming naked into the pond, and his curiosity is aroused. He discovers she lives on a small island together with her uncle, and he hopelessly falls in love with her after talking to her just once.

A story of irresistible attraction. I really felt sorry for Viktor while reading, as it was clear to me that, where the girl was involved, his fate was completely out of his hands. A sad story with (surprisingly enough) no supernatural elements involved. The wiki says it’s a retelling of The White Duck but once again there is very little that I find the two to have in common.

Beauty

Levin’s youngest daughter asked him for a rose as a present. Ironically enough, Levin received, on his journey, a rose, a special kind of rose: a rose that in their day and age meant that one of his children had to go and live with the aliens that have conquered the Earth. Levin chose to give away his youngest, Estár, the only natural born child.

I was surprised to discover this to be set in the future (unlike the others, set into a more or less distant past). I was also quite amused at the whole “bring me a rose”/”you’ll have to go away ’cause of the rose” part, because it strongly reminded me of the beginning of The Beauty and the Beast (not to mention the fact that the aliens were thought of as very ugly *hint hint*). I found it to be the most intense story of them all, and I read through it breathlessly, hurrying to find out whether the ending matches the fairytale as well as the beginning did.

What I liked most: Predictably somehow, my favorite stories were those where I could readily identify the elements from the original fairy tales. Sure, most of the time when they were present they were twisted somehow — exactly what I expected and the very thing I love. It’s like in these cases I get to appreciate most the magic of what the author has done, because I know the “rough material” she got to work with, and, seeing what she managed to make of it, am all the more impressed. If that makes any sense.

In terms of a favorite story I’d definitely chose “Paid Piper” (probably the fact that it was the first one very much counted because it was the story that acquainted me with the author’s writing style — but I very much like some of the ideas too). Also, “Beauty”, because of the intensity, because it was well told.

What I liked least: I was a bit disappointed whenever I couldn’t trace any of the original fairytale elements in the story because it made the story less of a retelling. Sure, the stories are good enough to stand on their own, without needing the backing of old fairytales — and yet, since I expected to read a book of retellings I was a bit disappointed when that didn’t seem to be the case (actually, these may turn out to be my favorite stories of them all, because who’s to say the similitudes aren’t there, but very subtle and hidden? And, as I love subtlety and a good challenge… ).

Recommend it to? Everyone. I simply loved the writing style, seemingly simple and yet beautifully worded (reminding me somehow of Cornelia Funke).


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It is obvious that the author enjoyed playing with the original story, twisting it until it’s almost unrecognizable at times. The step mother is no longer wicked, but only wants the best for her kingdom and is sincerely convinced that getting rid of her stepdaughter is the right thing to do. The seven dwarfs are now a number of distorted, twisted midgets. The good prince is a necrophiliac. And so on, taking the story on a whole new level.

Perhaps it is worth noting the way this short story came to be: according to himself, Neil Gaiman, the author, is fascinated by myths and old stories, considering them the compost that helps new stories develop and grow. When attending a symposium on this subject (myths and fairy tales) he was surprised to discover that the audience did not relate to them, did not think of them as “having power”, as being able to still evolve. So Mr. Gaiman set to prove them wrong — and the very next day he presented them with this particular story, born out of the Tale of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, and yet with a completely new approach.

In the author’s own words:

It was a retelling of the story of Snow White, from the point of view of the wicked queen. It asked questions like, “What kind of a prince comes across the dead body of a girl in a glass coffin and announces that he is in love and will be taking the body back to his castle?” and for that matter, “What kind of a girl has skin as white as snow, hair as black as coal, lips as red as blood, and can lie, as if dead, for a long time?” We realize, listening to the story, that the wicked queen was not wicked: she simply did not go far enough; and we also realize, as the queen is imprisoned inside a kiln, about to be roasted for the midwinter feast, that stories are told by survivors.

Reading this, I was very impressed by the way the author has managed to create such a frightful story, with such an original perspective, at such short notice. Not that I have ever doubted his talent, of course — but these days I am more impressed by him as ever before. :)

What I liked most: The very idea that the story that we all know might have in reality unfolded differently. After all, the mirror has two faces, doesn’t it? :) I am quite fond of the title too — seemingly random words but also a very strong connection to the initial tale.

What I liked least: Not something that bothered me that much but I was surprised to see a few explicit sexual references. I realize that the reason they took me by surprise is that I was somehow expecting to see a children’s fairy tale (despite knowing the opposite). In any way, they are not over exaggerated and taken in the context, they are just as much a part of the story like all the rest.

Recommend it to? Anyone interested in twisted fairy tales and/or seeing events from more than one perspective :)

Written by the same author:
American Gods
Coraline
Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett)
Neverwhere
Stardust
The Graveyard Book

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Unfortunately the story is too short and too sketchy for the reader to form an opinion about how Benjamin actually was, about his opinions and beliefs. He seems like a normal enough fellow though (normal except his “affliction”, of course). He would probably have become a very accomplished man had he gone through his phases in their natural order (first school, then a lady magnet, then a business man), as everything he does he does very well, until his decreasing mental age starts getting in the way.

I have found very amusing how seriously Benjamin’s father took his role as a new father when his son was born. Although he had a very mature-looking and behaving man as his son, Roger Button kept buying him baby toys — once he even inquired from a store clerk whether “the paint would come off the pink duck if the baby put it in his mouth.“. I was also equally amused by how short people’s memory was and how quickly they judged a man by appearances only. Best example of this is that when Benjamin first married Hildegarde, everyone thought them an ill-matched pair as she was very young and he looked about 50. Twenty years after, when seeing Benjamin and Hildegarde together people still pity them, only this time the roles were reversed, everyone felt sorry for the “young fellow that age tied to a woman of forty-five.“

It’s interesting to note how, with age (with the decreasing of it), Benjamin’s horizons became narrower and narrower, his ability to understand things decreased too and the way he chose to spend his time also changed according to his age. In his first years of life he was a very accomplished business man; later he was passionately pursuing the company of women; he begun his studies when he looked the appropriate age but they kept getting more difficult as his mental capacities became less and less mature; games started seeming very interesting to him when he became a child; as a toddler he forgot what some of the toys were for; as a baby his world contained nothing but his crib and his bottle.

What I liked most: Probably the moment when 50-something Benjamin joined the army with a high rank and no one took him seriously because he looked only 16, too young to be in the army not to mention too young to be a war hero (as was the case).
Also, the attitude of his wife and son towards his getting younger and younger: he should behave sensibly and look his own age. As if the poor thing had a choice :)

“I’m not going to argue with you,” [Hildegarde] retorted. “But there’s a right way of doing things and a wrong way. If you’ve made up your mind to be different from everybody else, I don’t suppose I can stop you, but I really don’t think it’s very considerate.”

What I liked least: Nothing, I loved it on the whole. I’m only sort of sorry it’s only a short story as I am sure it could have been a very captivating novel :)

Recommend it? Yes, it’s short, interesting and quite funny.

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Down to a Sunless Sea contains some bits and pieces in the life of a boy named Adam. A boy with a lot of phobias, a boy afraid to grow up, a boy who one day deafened with no physical reason (and healed miraculously after a time). I liked the way the author showed the reader the path to Adam’s psyche, the connections from cause to effect. I have also liked the title very much, I see it as a symbol of the journey we take into Adam’s “sunless” corners of mind.

I’ll Make It, I Think is the touching story of a boy with some serious physical deformities and his way of coping with the situation. Among other things he gave names to the body parts that troubled him the most – I saw in this manner of personification a tentative of shunning them, of projecting them outside the self – somewhat like considering them some roommates someone is stuck with: not to be rid of but not defining for the personality either.

The Chatham Bear is a story about wilderness – the one outside a community, the one within and how differently people treat these two. The wilderness outside is illustrated by a bear – everyone considers it a menace to be gotten rid of, an alien, not belonging in any way to the life those people wanted for themselves. At the same time though there are some manifestations of “wilderness” in the very heart of society: a large dog mauls a smaller one, a man intentionally burns a woman’s skin. Not only these manifestations frighten no one though, but almost nobody sees anything notable in them – they’re taken as normal parts of a normal civilized life. A paradox and a sort of irony.

Herbie is about a boy (obviously named Herbie) whose family was bordering on the edge of dysfunctional. Son of an aggressive father, Herbie needs to feel appreciated and accepted. When his father teaches him to shine shoes in a particular manner, with lots of attention to detail, Herbie wants to set up a shoe shining business, so that his father will see what a brilliant pupil he is – and appreciate him. He fails miserably though – leaving the reader to feel really sorry for him.

Alabaster is the story of an old lady, survivor of the Holocaust. She was but a little girl, I’m thinking six or seven, when the Nazi came and shattered her life to pieces, suddenly putting and end to her childhood. Many years after, now a frail old woman, the lady still wonders about her missed experiences (how it’s like to go to school, how it’s like to be nine). I have found this an extremely sad story but an excellent idea to have written about.

Juan Peron’s Hands is an incursion in the mind of the Argentinian guy who has stolen Peron’s hands, both because he saw in them a symbol of what Peron had done to his people (“Like umbrellas to shield us, his hands enveloped us, placed us in shadow, anointed us fools.“) and because he saw cutting Peron’s hands off as the best way of neutering him. One would perhaps expect such story to be creepier, but it isn’t (or perhaps it is but I was too curious too see what happens next to actually notice). I sort of liked this story, I found it a bit amusing to see the meanings the thief attached to those… objects. Oh, and I have also found amusing the way he kept referring to Eva not by her name but as “the blonde one”. Not in the least I’d be really curious to know whether or not the reasons of the actual guy who had actually stolen real life Peron’s hands were alongside the ones Freese mentioned here. They do seem pretty plausible to me.

Little Errands is about a guy suffering perhaps from a mild form of OCD, always going lengths to make sure everything in his life is in order and worrying when things get out of his reach and he has to depend on others. He reminded me (had to) of the character played in As Good As It Gets by Jack Nicholson. Here’s a quote about his way of thinking, one I have found quite explanatory: “This extra expenditure of energy does deplete me mentally; but the added joy of knowing for certain that I have completed an action and ordered my life somewhat gives me pleasure“.

Arnold Schwartzenegger’s Father Was a Nazi is a short story written in ’91 where the author pokes fun at the Arnie back then. He tries to explain Arnie’s rigidness by the fact that he was raised the tough way by a father who tried to build his character by some less than orthodox means. I really couldn’t stop smiling at the confidence the Arnie back then feels about his future (“I might even run for president”), which makes Freese a bit of a prophet, given that about 15 years later after the story was published Arnie actually run for a political office (and got it too, accent or no accent) :)

Echo is trying to explore the way our childhood experiences “echo” in our adult life. It is the story of Jon, who as a kid has gone through a separation both unimportant and very important to him (unimportant in terms of the person he was losing – a little girl he will soon forget almost all about; very important in terms of psychological effects, as it was his very first drama and for some reason it had very deep effects on him, leaving him forever with an inability to attach himself to others.

Young Man is a short incursion in the mind of a man passionated by philosophy, especially the Chinese one. I don’t know if my impression was a correct one, but I thought he sort of kept his thoughts in the completely wrong sphere, sort of losing contact with the realities surrounding him such as his wife and daughter.

Nicholas was an amusing story written by the title character (bad spelling and all), about how he doesn’t like English, how school’s not actually useful in real life, and his mixed feelings for his female teacher. He’s not a bad boy at all though, he’s just a little stubborn about things he does not like nor understand why he needs them for. Quote I liked: “I have yet to see a tombstone with a readin level on it. It all comes down to doin a good job.“

Billy’s Mirrored Wall tells us about the differences in how we relate to another one’s possessions as kids and as adults. Because that’s what Billy’s mirrored wall is in the narrator’s eyes, a most prized and impressive possession. As a kid he felt somehow enhanced by it, somehow sharing its glory even if it belonged to someone else (“I knew a boy who had a mirrored wall“). Everything is not felt the same in the adult world though: the kid’s mother thinks he’s envious and somehow shares this envy too. He himself will share this envy growing up (what does he have that I don’t, why does he deserve more). It’s a sad story about how we lose the innocence of youth and what twisted beings we became in time.

Unanswerable is yet another story about how the human psyche works and how affected in can be by childhood events. It’s about a boy whose father tried to teach him to swim by throwing him in deep water and leaving him there, scaring him and scarring him forever. “In this condensed point he shattered all trust I had garnered for my fellow human beings [...] We are all alone, the lesson taught. And trust does not exist.“. We then find the child years later, now a grown up, still trying to deal with it, still trying to understand why his father did this to him, what his reasons must have been. It’s a scary story in a way because I cannot help feeling his father’s intentions weren’t actually mean – he just made a mistake. If not this precise father, I imagine a lot others made it. Amazing to see how huge an effect can such a gesture have.

For a While, Here, In This Moment is a story both touching, a bit scary, and at the same time sort of explanatory (as in “oh, so this is what it feels like”) about a guy with (probably) a cerebral illness that affects his memories and the way he relates to his own self (“I am at the point that I can not remind me of me.[...] I wake up with a strange person in the bed with me. I never find out if it’s me before he leaves. I don’t imagine anymore. What is that, anyway? I have lost my ‘I’“). I have absolutely loved how Freese described the guy’s feelings, one can almost understand them and relate to them, seemingly illogical and unattainable for a normal human being as they are. I don’t wish to live them, of course, but I am happy to have seen a glimpse of how such man’s mind works. Loved the title too.

Mortise and Tenon tells us of the time Edward spent with her mother visiting museums and enjoying art… well, the type or art she liked. She did tend to impose her tasted to her little boy and, in the light of what I read so far, I couldn’t help wondering how this will affect his way of relating to things as a grown-up.

On the whole I have really enjoyed Freese’s way of writing, the way he manages to tell a meaningful story in only a few pages, the way he shares with us some of what he knows about how the human mind works. Also, I was thrilled to discover some fresh and interesting ideas (for example the one in Alabaster or the one in The Chatham Bear).

What I liked most: I know I have just mentioned it but the idea behind Alabaster is my absolute favorite :)

What I liked least: I have to say I was too caught up in it to like something less – I have enjoyed it as a whole.

Recommend it? Yes, it’s a fast and interesting read.

The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

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J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement is the written confession of a doctor that was a passenger of Marie Celeste, a ship found mysteriously deserted, telling the story of the fate of the missing people.

Fully plausible (not very probable but possible) and with no unnatural elements, the story is vaguely disappointing for me, as I was expecting given the parallel with Mary Celeste. While in real life I am sure there is a perfectly plausible explanation of Mary Celeste’s lack of crew, at least in a book you’re supposed to be allowed to let your imagination run wild :P

The Great Keinplatz Experiment is, as the title states, the story of an experiment of Professor von Baumgarten’s. He was a passionate researcher in the field of mesmerism (studying “the soul and the mysterious relationship of spirits”). Convinced that when the body is in a state of catalepsy the soul wanders away, and that only souls can see other souls, he wants to prove his theory by hypnotizing one of his students (one Fritz von Hartmann, a very party-loving fellow) and then self-hypnotizing himself, hoping that their two souls would meet. A large crowd of people gathers to see the experiment, only to be very disappointed when the two wake up stating that they do not remember anything. Little does anyone know at thins point about the main result of the experiment: the wandering souls had mistakenly changed places, the professor’s soul being in the body of Fritz and viceversa.

I found this quite a fun little story, only a wee bit too short, as not too many things have time to actually happen. Nevertheless the ones that do are quite amusing, especially when the two meet again after the experiment and each finds the other one rather familiar and each wonders why the other is wearing his own clothes :)

The Man From Archangel is a story told by John M’Vittie, an ex-attorney turned scholar and living in near-solitude on his little land strip near the sea. One night a storm sunk a ship and the only survivor was a young Russian girl John rescued and took home with him. Only after a while he finds out that the ship’s captain was also alive and that he claimed the girl as his own (though she didn’t even want to hear about him). John sees the girl’s reticence and doesn’t let the man take her away, even though, in time, he gets a bit of a soft spot for him, seeing how deep his (the captain’s) love for the girl was.

A short but sort of interesting story, only with a bit implausible sort-of-happy ending. The captain may have loved the girl dearly but given that he has also taken her from the side of the man she loved I doubt his courting her would have ever been successful – then again, who knows.

That Little Square Box also takes place on a ship, this time one traveling from America to the British coast. Our hero is an average gentleman (a bit of a coward) who overhears two passengers talking, one showing another a box with a sort of trigger. Our guy gets rather scared thinking the box a bomb and the two people some fanatics bent on blowing up the ship. He spends an awful day thinking that probably the next evening will be his very last, but nevertheless he doesn’t have the courage to actually do something about it (like for example saying something to the captain of the ship). That night, to his intense horror, he notices the two guys with their box getting ready to pull the trigger – he gives up his cowardice and runs to them (calling them names and telling them of Cain), when to his enormous surprise the box that had scared him so turns out to contain nothing other than two grey doves :)

I found this a rather fun story and with extremely well dosed tension – while I did suspect that the box didn’t actually contain a bomb due to the little white grains the two people poured occasionally into it, I didn’t actually think of such an explanation, two doves belonging to different breeds and set to compete against each other. One of my favorite stories in this collection so far.

John Huxford’s Hiatus is the heartwarming story of John Huxford and his fiancee Mary. It all begins when the firm where John worked goes out of business, leaving John without a job. Given that he was soon to be married he is very happy when he hears of a position he might occupy in Canada (he lived in Devonshire). After asking his beloved’s opinion he accepts and leaves for Quebec, set on saving enough money to be able to bring his Mary along. On arriving to Canada though he has the misfortune of meeting some thieves, who besides robbing him hit him in the head and leave him for dead in the streets. Luckily he is found by someone and taken to the hospital where he miraculously recovers, only he has amnesia and is unable to remember anything from his former life. When he is discharged out of hospital he finds a job and, as years pass, becomes quite successful – only he is very lonely and feeling like he’s missing something. Some fifty years later he overhears some people from his homeland speaking, and he is very amazed at the familiarity he feels – like not only he heard that manner of speaking before but he was once very familiar with it. He asks one of them about the place where they came from and on hearing his answers all of the sudden his memory comes back. He is very grieved remembering of Mary and he sets at once on a voyage to reach her. To his surprise he finds her in the very same house he left her, looking very similar and still waiting for him – but blind and dying. Luckily she gets so happy on seeing him that she actually beats her illness and survives. The two got married and lived happily ever after. :P

I liked this story, I really did. It’s a beautiful story of lovers meeting after many years of being faithful to each other. I cannot help being sorry for all those years they lost though :(

A Literary Mosaic is about a Mr. Smith that considered himself a very talented literary man, able to write about anything and everything. Nevertheless other people have a whole other opinion (“[...]the article in question had been sent to well-nigh every publisher in London, and had come back again with a rapidity and precision which spoke well for the efficiency of our postal arrangements.

Had my manuscripts been paper boomerangs they could not have
returned with greater accuracy to their unhappy dispatcher.) so after a while he entered the world of trade (where he couldn’t give up all his literary aspirations so every now and then did something like write a ship captain’s instructions in verses instead of prose – an effort not very appreciated by the said captain I’m afraid). Nevertheless after a while he inherited some money so he no longer needed to actually work, so he figured he’ll write a masterpiece to amaze all mankind. As the ideas tarried to appear he decided he’ll read or re-read the works of all great authors – so it’s not surprising that one evening he had an amazing dream: all this great authors gathered at his table trying to help his novel take off.

This was a rather fun short story – both at first when the literary trysts of Mr. Smith were described, as in the latter half where all those famous authors (Defoe, Swift, Sir Walter Scott and others) tried to write a collective story. The funniest part was the way each author stayed true to his style, regardless to the previous development of the story. For example Defoe started out the story in a manner very similar to his very own Robinson Crusoe, or Sir Walter Scott had no problem placing everything few hundred years back as he was fond of Medieval times :)

John Barrington Cowles tells us about the last months of John Barrington Cowles’ life. How he met a strange girl and fell in love with her and then she turned out to be a werewolf, so he left her. And then he died.

A rather interesting story but with a sort of disappointing ending. The tension built up nicely until a point and it sort of went downhill from there. Also I couldn’t help noticing a similitude between the ending of this story and the one about the captain of the Polestar (the very first story in this book): both J.B. Cowles and the captain of the Polestar were last seen saying something along the lines “she’s here”, “oh my darling here I come”, although the other person present there saw nothing; also they both run away to meet their ending, the last glimpse of them alive being of them running to a no observable target.

As a fun bit, look at this quote: “There is a story,” he said thoughtfully, “in one of Marryat’s books, about a beautiful woman who took the form of a wolf at night and devoured her own children. I wonder what put that idea into Marryat’s head?”
The book he’s talking about is this one :)

The Parson of Jackman’s Gulch is another funny story, this time taking place in a little town where all people were gold diggers. One day a man settles into their city, a man clearly with no idea about gold digging. He did something else though: in the evening he came to the saloon and read the Bible. Very monotonously too. After a while people there noticed he was actually doing it as a punishment when someone said a bad word or did something inappropriate – as a result in about a month no one in Jackman’s Gulch dared to swear anymore :) They nicknamed the man The Parson and held him in very high esteem as he was very talented at shooting, cards, everything but gold-digging. That’s why, when he proposed that they should hold a Sunday service everyone happily agreed. On the said day almost every single person was in attendance, leaving their weapons outside, as appropriate in a House of Lord – only to find out, to their enormous surprise, that they were locked in and their gold was stolen, their pastor turning out to be no less than a wanted desperado.

A funny and interesting story once I got over the first third – that is before as the main character (Elias B. Hopkins) was introduced. As soon as I saw him reading from his Bible to a bunch of drunk people I was captivated by him and his originality :P

The Ring of Thoth is about a student, John Vansittart Smith, that one day met at the Louvre a four thousand years old Egyptian.

While a normal man the Egyptian had only wanted to defeat death; nevertheless shortly after he became immortal he started wanting only death. A bit ironic how he always wanted the things outside his possibilities. Also, there is a definite similitude to the ending of the story about the man from Archangel – both times we see dead lovers embracing so hard that they cannot be torn apart.

What I liked most: The touch of humor in some of the stories (such as A Literary Mosaic or The Parson of Jackman’s Gulch) and the way tension/curiosity built up in others (That Little Square Box and John Huxford’s Hiatus).

What I liked least: In terms of stories, the first two were definitely my least favorites of them all. Otherwise the similar endings bothered me a little – especially in the cases of The Captain of the Polestar and John Barrington Cowles, where both endings are sort of the same and equally unexplained.

Recommend it? Yes. The stories are rather varied so there’s a high chance you’ll find at least one to like. :)

Written by the same author:
The Firm of Girdlestone

The links to amazon.com and bookdepository.co.uk are affiliate links. If you click one of them and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price. This being said, rest assured that the few cents I might thus make will never influence what I say or do not say about any book reviewed on the site.

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